Musicals and Musical Theatre: Research Material
Guide to locating vocal scores, cast recordings, librettos, and research sources for musicals and musical theatre
Last Updated: Nov 21, 2024 10:47 AM
In the Library: Reference Books
Top reference books:
- Bloom, Ken. American Song: The Complete Musical Theatre Companion. New York : London: Schirmer Books, 1996. MUSIC REF ML128 .M78 B6 1996. 4,800 shows from 1877-1995 with cast lists and main crew of the original productions, the opening and closing dates, and all numbers in the order that they appeared—including numbers that were cut in later productions. Includes song index. For Broadway musicals after 1943, also see Broadway Musicals, 1943-2004.
- Dietz, Dan. Off Broadway Musicals, 1910-2007: Casts, Credits, Songs, Critical Reception and Performance Data of More Than 1,800 Shows. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2010.ProQuest Ebook Central Casts, credits, songs, critical reception, performance data, and notes for over 1,800 off-Broadway shows. Arranged by show title, with song and name indexes, chronology, grouping by theme, and bibliography
- Stewart, John. Broadway Musicals, 1943-2004. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2006. MUSIC REF ML102.M88 S74 2006. Excellent source. In addition to detailing how the book is organized and how entries are structured, the preface clearly defines the criteria for “Broadway musical” as used in the book (not as simple as it seems). Unique features: extensive entries, standbys listed, revenue information, additional non-Broadway productions listed.
In the Library: In the Stacks
Helpful call numbers for browsing for books about musicals and musical theatre:
- ML102.M88… Musicals, reference sources (Reference section)
- ML410… Biographies of composers (General area)
- ML420… Biographies of singers (General area)
- ML1711…Books about musicals and opera (Reference section and general area)
- ML1711.8.N3 Books about musical theater and opera specific to New York City (Reference section and general area)
- ML2054 Musical theatre as a genre (general area)
- MT956 Musical theatre production and performance (general area)
- PN1995.9.M86 Musical films; Hollywood musicals (Lockwood)
Online Sources for Information about Musicals and Musical Theatre
- IBDB: Internet Broadway DatabaseIBDB (Internet Broadway Database) archive is the official database for Broadway theatre information. IBDB provides records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre until today.
- Playbill VaultFree searchable database of Playbill programs, 1942-present; includes full scans when available
- GROVE Music Online This link opens in a new windowAuthoritative resource for music research that includes full content from the second editions of New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., New Grove Dictionary of Opera, 2nd ed., New Grove Dictionary of Jazz and partial content from the second editions of The Grove Dictionary of American Music and The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. More InfoFull-Text UB ONLY
Library E-books
You can use the Catalog to search for all print books in the Libraries. You can search some of our e-books using the catalog. To search all e-books available through the Libraries' subscriptions, you can use the Everything search to find a combination of print and electronic books, or E-book search to search specifically for e-books.
Databases
- Music Index This link opens in a new windowResearch database with indexing, abstracts and some full text of music-related articles.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowComprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database.
